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Conference in the European Parliament |
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Over 90 stakeholders from eleven different EU countries participated at the public conference ’Organic farming: Ready for the next Decade?’ on March 27, 2006 in the European Parliament. The delegates discussed the Commission’s proposal on the Revision of the Organic Regulation with the Austrian Presidency, the European Commission and the European Parliament. The conference was organised by the IFOAM EU Group together with the responsible rapporteurs from the European Parliament, Marie-Hélène Aubert and F.W. Graefe zu Baringdorf.
The event was the first opportunity for stakeholders to discuss the proposal at the European level. If approved, the new Regulation will have a crucial impact on the future development of organic farming, as it will define its new legal framework.
“It became clear during the conference that a lot of different concerns and open questions exist among the stakeholders” said Francis Blake, president of the IFOAM EU Group (Presentation IFOAM). “Therefore we appreciated very much the clear statement of the Austrian Presidency that `quality prevails over speed`. The tight timeline proposed for deciding upon this regulation was one of our major concerns, as many of the practical and legal implications of the proposal are unclear (Press release).
The IFOAM EU Group has sent a list of key questions to the Austrian presidency with the aim of clarifying the full impact of the proposal. The answers are anticipated with great interest.
Notes
Marie-Hélène Aubert, rapporteur on the revision of the EU regulation on organic agriculture and F.W. Graefe zu Baringdorf, rapporteur on labelling and control of organic products
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